2 House Fires in 2 Days

For the second time in two nights fire struck a home in Willingboro, N. J. On Saturday evening, Willingboro Firefighters, with the assistance of Delran Station 231 Firefighters, extinguished a fire in a home at 23 Roxburn Place. The Burlington County 911 Center was alerted to a fire in the second floor of the home at 8:02 p.m. Willingboro Fire Department Assistant Chief Mark Robertson arrived first and found fire coming from the attic area of the town home. Assistant Chief Robertson placed "All Hands in Service" which brings the Burlington City FAST Team to the scene along with cover companies to Willingboro Fire Headquarters. Firefighters from the Delran Fire Department, which are automatically dispatched on fires in this section of Willingboro, arrived in 7 minutes and made their way into the home. The crew from Delran Engine 2311 discovered fire in a second floor bedroom with fire extending into the attic of the home. Delran Tower 2315 arrived and set-up for master stream operations and overhaul of the roof line. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire in the bedroom with a 1 ¾” handling, but required more time to extinguish all of the fire in the attic. Willingboro Firefighters from Engine 1611 assisted pulling ceilings and ventilation of smoke and heat from the home. The home suffered fire, heat, and smoke damage to the second floor and smoke and water damage to the first floor. Additional firefighters from Willingboro Squirt 1631 checked the "B" exposure at 22 Roxburn Place for fire extension in the attic space. Firefighters only found smoke on the second floor of the home, with no fire or heat damage. Willingboro Tower 1615 arrived and positioned on the "C" exposure, but was not placed into service. The fire was placed under control at 8:31 p.m. by Operations Officer Chief Troy Bishop, with 35 firefighters from both departments on the scene at the height of the fire. Firefighters remained on scene until 10:15 p.m. making sure all hidden fires were extinguished, and for salvage and overhaul operatons. The fire, which is under investigation by the Willingboro Fire Marshall Rod Hardy and the Willingboro Police Department, was caused by a 7 year-old in the home playing with matches. Firefighters from Delanco and Beverly were standing by at Willingboro Fire Headquarters.
While on Friday night 15 Willingboro Firefighters responded to a house fire at 38 Mandolin Lane at 7:30 . Firefighters, under the direction of Fire Chief Troy Bishop, arrived within 9 minutes of being called to find smoke showing from a rear bedroom on the second floor of the home. Chief Bishop immediately placed "All Hands in Service" and the Burlington City FAST Team was dispatched to the scene. The 2 residents that were in the home escaped when they heard the smoke detector activating due to the heavy amount of smoke. Due to a 2 man crew on Engine 1611, Assistant Chiefs Mark Robertson and Dwayne Jones geared-up and prepared to go into service with Firefighter Jason York of Engine 1611. Firefighters were unable to enter the home until the arrival of an additonal crew from Squirt 1631 that stood by outside until the FAST Team arrived on scene. Firefighters then entered the home and found heavy smoke and heat levels on the second floor and heavy fire conditions in the bedroom. They immediately put water on the fire with a 2” hand line with smooth bore nozzle, and were able to extinguish the fire quickly. Firefighters then checked to make sure the fire hadn’t extended into the attic. Later arriving crews vented the bedroom from the exterior with pike poles and assisted with ventilation of the second floor. Additional firefighters from Delran and Beverly were called on the second alarm due to low manpower and in case the fire had extended into the attic of the home. However, the fire was only in the bedroom and the fire was placed under control at 7:52 p.m. One resident of the home did receive smoke inhalation and was checked on scene by the Willingboro Emergency Squad, however she declined transportation to the hospital. The fire is believed to be accidental and is under investigation by the Willingboro and Delran Fire Marshals. The fire damaged the bedroom, with smoke and heat damage to the remainder of the second floor. The resident’s of the home were able to make other living arraignments for the evening. Firefighters remained on scene until 10 p.m. making sure there were no hidden fires, and performing salvage and overhaul operations.